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Diiging digital annotated bibliographies with Diigo

Shelley Rodrigo (rrodrigo@mesacc.edu)
Mesa Community College
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Many instructors require annotated bibliographies as process assignments during a research project; why not put them online using the "list" feature in Diigo? Not only does Diigo function as a regular social bookmarking tool, saving URLs to relevant resources; Diigo also allows users to annotated individual webpages and share those annotations with others. Still desire hardcopy resources (don’t forget those books!)? This assignment also provides various methods for how students can digitally bookmark paper resources.

What is Diigo?

Or what is Social Bookmarking?

Social bookmarking is a method for Internet users to share, organize, search, and manage bookmarks of web resources. Unlike file sharing, the resources themselves aren't shared, merely bookmarks that reference them.--Wikipedia
Video: Social Bookmarking in Plain English

Why Diigo?

Or, what are Diigo's functionalities?

  • Public/Private
  • Tagging
  • Snapshot
  • Description (Global)
  • Highlighting
  • Sticky Note (Location Specific, w/ability to get annotated link)
  • Lists
  • Groups
  • Teacher Console
  • Firefox Toolbar

Assignments Diigo Enables

Tips & Tricks for using Diigo

Or, what lessons you don't have to learn?

Don't bother with tons of "how-to" support material, instead:
  1. Find pre-made videos on YouTube, Vimeo, etc.
  2. Make your own videos using Jing when a student asks for it.
  3. Be prepared to meet with 1-2 students who need extreme hand-holding (no matter how many handouts & videos)
Start Slow (add a new functionality every 1-2 weeks):
  1. Start with students getting accounts and bookmark a few things like the school's website
  2. Then have students add tags & global descriptions
  3. Then have them add sticky notes (floating notes)
  4. Then have them make lists
  5. ....
FERPA...consider the language I've had approved by my legal people (always check with your as well)

Activity #1: Real-World Annotated Bookmarks

Like the Internet, conferences are a web of potential resources that you need to bookmark for future reference. Take one of the sticky envelops (or make your own), stick it into your conference program, and start collecting real-world bookmarks (aka, business cards). However, as with any research project, just saving or bookmarking the resource is not enough, you need to annotate it as well. Make sure you annotate your business cards with quick notes written on the back of each card.

Extra Credit: At the end of the conference empty out all of your cards and take a picture of them. Post the picture to the web (consider using Flickr) then bookmark your picture in Diigo with the tag "cccc10".

Activity #2: Real-World Comments

Diigo's little yellow Sticky Note icons closely resemble our well-beloved Post-it notes. Take some sticky notes and leave some annotations about each of the posters on this physical replication of a Diigo list. This particular list is made up of the bookmarks of each presentation at the conference and on the E-WAVE wiki website. Share what you liked, what you learned, and what you hope to do with the information learned. Consider using a heart shaped note to say what you liked; use an arrow for what you are going to act on, etc.

Activity #3: Diiging #CCCC10

Next time you have access to a computer with internet access, join Diigo and start bookmarking resources you've learned about at this year's CCCCs. To add to the collective intelligence of the conference, tag them #cccc10.

Extra Credit: Join the Diigo group "Conference on College Composition and Communication (CCCC)." Share your favorite bookmarks from the conference with the group. Be sure to leave some notes with your shared bookmarks about how/why you liked the resource.